6 THE BILLESDON HUNT. 



able. I would be the last to wish farmers 

 to incur unnecessary expenses to their dis- 

 advantage, but I am certain all reasonable 

 men, even if they do not participate in fox- 

 hunting, will concur that it is an amusement 

 of the utmost importance to their profits, in- 

 terest, and welfare, and in no county is it 

 more essentially so than in Leicestershire. 

 Much annoyance was created at one time, 

 but happily that is very generally over- 

 come, by landowners and farmers taking 

 down their wires during the hunting season, 

 and a fund has been raised to defray the 

 cost when asked for. Mr Taylor, an en- 

 thusiastic farmer, has jocosely invoked 

 the muses in denunciation of wires, and in 

 praise of Mr Tailby. The immense sums 

 of money annually expended by noblemen 

 and gentlemen who take up their winter 

 quarters at Melton, Leicester, Market 

 Harborough, besides almost every village 

 within the county in which there is a re- 



